Lifting and lowering system for venetian blinds



June 11, 1963 1.. CASTANEDO LIFTING AND LOWERING SYSTEM FOR VENETIAN BLINDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 12, 1962 \NVENTOR L.U\S LARA CAST/\N EDO Y (lMol ATTORNE S June 1963 L. CASTANEDO LIFTING AND LOWERING SYSTEM FOR VENETIAN BLINDS 2 Sheets-$heet 2 Filed Feb. 12, 1962 INVENTOR LUlS LARA CASTANEDO ATTORNEY 3,%3,l86 Patented June 11, 1963 3,093,186 LE TING AND LOWERING SYSTEM FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Luis Lara Castaneda, Avenida Horacio 911, Mexico City, Mexico Filed Feb. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 172,446 Claims priority, application Mexico Sept. 26, 1961 4 Claims. (Cl. 160-167) The present invention is related to Venetian blinds and more particularly is related to a new system to perform the raising and lowering of the Venetian blinds, wherein the advantage is achieved that the blind can be handled as a conventional Venetian blind and at the same time all the group of louvers thereof can be lowered, leaving a span completely free of obstructions for the light to pass from the exterior of the window with which it is related.

Heretofore all the Venetian blinds of the conventionally known type are provided with means to lift and lower the louvers, but only acting upon the lowermost slab thereof, carrying therewith the remaining louvers forming the blind in an upward direction when said slab is lifted by means of the set of cables and common pulleys, and which lower said louvers by releasing them one by one at their respective positions fixed by two or more dependent strips, when said slab where the louvers are supported is lowered, releasing said dependent strips. However, up to now it has not been possible to provide means by which all the'set of louvers can be made to descend, independently of the vertical dependent strips, in order to leave a span which is completely free from obstructions in order to allow the passage of light from the exterior of the corresponding window.

This, by itself, constitute a disadvantage for the conventional Venetian blinds, inasmuch as in case the lifting cord corresponding to the set of louvers are broken, it is impossible to open the blind. On the other hand, when the position of the sun with respect to the zenith is such that the beams of light thereof are passing into the room forming a troublesome angle for the persons who are in the room there is the need, with the blinds now existing of the Venetian type, to lower all the set of louvers and incline them in sufficient grade in order to avoid the passage of the heating sun beams, with the consequent decrease of the illuminating efliciency of the room, inasmuch as by avoiding the entrance of the sun beams in all the area of the window, the lumen input is also removed therefrom.

Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lifting and lowering system for Venetian blinds, by which it is possible to lower all the set of louvers to avoid the entrance of direct sun rays, while it is possible to lower the upper slab together with all the louvers which are therebelow, in order to open a light span at the upper portion of the blind to allow the entrance of the light rays through said upper span without these rays directly entering into the lower occupied portions of the room, thus avoiding botherings to the occupants.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel system for the lifting and lowering of Venetian blinds, by which it is possible to provide spans free from obstructions for the entrance of light, either at the upper portion by closing the lower portion of the blind, or at the lower portion by closing the upper portion of the blind, or by any intermediate combination between these two extreme conditions.

A more particular object of the present invention is to provide a novel system to lift and lower Venetian blinds, which is simple to construct and incorporate into a conventional type of Venetian blind, without the need of important changes therein.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel system to lift and lower Venetian blinds of the character above mentioned, wherein sliding means are provided to lower and lifting the upper slab of the blind, which supports the dependent vertical strips which govern the position of the individual louvers forming the Venetian blind proper.

Other and additional objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent as the description thereof proceeds, in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational fragmentary and sectional view of the right upper portion of a Venetian blind incorporating the lifting and lowering system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan cross-sectional view taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional elevational view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view from the interior of the room where the blind is installed, of a blind incorporating the lifting and lowering system built in accordance to the present invention, and

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the supporting and sliding upper channel for the cables of the blind built in accordance with the present invention and incorporating the lifting and lowering system thereof.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a conventional type blind, which incorporates the system of the present invention, which blind consists of an upper supporting channel 10 fastened to the wall or other fixed place adjacent to the window with which said blind is associated, by means of a pair of brackets 11 and setscrews 12, said brackets being of an angular conventional form, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 4. Under this channel 10 an upper supporting slab 13 is provided parallel thereto, said slab being also of conventional form, but with the characteristic that it is caused to move upwardly and downwardly by the novel device which will be hereinafter fully described. This upper slab 13 is provided with cloth strips 14 or depending supports, between each pair of which a plurality of transverse ribbons are arranged in order to support in a conventional manner a multiplicity of louvers 15. At the end of the set of louvers 15,- at the extreme lower portion of the hanging strips 14, a second slab or lower slab 16 is provided, which lifts or lowers the louvers in a conventional way with respect to the upper slab 13. This first lifting and lowering movement of conventional character is achieved by the known mechanism which comprises a double cable 17 provided at one side of the Venetian blind, it being illustrated in the present embodiment as being on the lefthand side of the blind (see FIG. 4), which is divided into two single cables 18 and 19 which I penetrate through the upper slab 13 by means of corre a lifting and lowering movement which exactly the same as that known for the conventional Venetian blinds which are used at present.

The slanting motion of the louvers 15 is provided by means of a mechanism comprising a pulley 21 and endless screw 32, which work in combination with a cable 20 in a very well known manner. However, this slanting mechanism for the louvers incorporates novel modifications which were not known up to now, and which will be more fully described hereinafter.

'Ihe louver slanting mechanism is connected, as is conventional, to the upper slab 13 by a bracket 23 which is fixed thereto, for instance, by means of screw 24, but, which can be of the tongue type for direct insertion into one of the ends of said slab, with essentially similar results. Bracket 23 illustrated in the embodiment of the accompanying figures comprises a vertical portion downwardly bent from the first horizontal portion fastened to slab 13, and then bent sidewisely in order to form a second horizontal portion or end portion 25, which ends in a bifurcated upstanding bead 26. This end is inserted in a support 27 having a fork comprised by two nails 28 and 29 forming an enclosure for section 25, 26 of bracket 23. Support 27 has on its opposite end a vertically ascending portion terminating in a semicircular or segmental gear 30 which teeth are engaged to the endless screw 32 mounted on the shaft 31 on one of which ends pulley 21 for the louver slanting cord is fastened. Thus, by pulling one of the ends of said cord 20, the pulley 21 is made to rotate and with it the screw 32, in order to rotate gear 30 and consequently the upper slab 13 di-- rectly engaged thereto by means of bracket 23.

The slanting mechanism of the present invention is not fixedly fastened to the upper channel 10 as is conventional, but instead it is fastened to a bracket 33 of inverted U-form, one arm thereof supporting by means of suitable formed bearings the axis of pulley 21 and endless screw 32, while the other arm 34 is coupled by means of rivets or welding or otherwise to a slide 35 inserted into the continuous groove of a curtain bar 36 vertically arranged at one side of the blind, and fastened to the channel 10 in its upper end, while the lower end thereof is fixed to the wall or panel by a bracket 52 or otherwise. Thus, a sliding upward and downward motion is provided at the slanting assembly and therefore to the upper slab 13.

In order to effect said motion of slab 13, another set of cables is provided, consisting of the double cable 37 which is herein illustrated at the righthand side of the blind, which double cable 37 is divided into two single cables 38 and 39 which extremities are fastened to the hooks 45 by the eye 46 thereof, such as clearly illustrated at FIGS. 1 and 4. These hooks carry at their lower end a right angled portion which rotates in a bracket 48 and being engaged by the hole of the latter by a washer 49, all within a cavity 50 made in slab 13. Thus, at the time the slanting motion of slab 13 is effected, such as is conventional, a lifting and lowering movement is simultaneously imparted to said slab. i

All the lifting and lowering cables, including those of the lower slab 16 and those of the upper slab 13 also, pass through conventional jaw retention devices 51.,

These retention jaws 51 are fixed to each end of channel 10, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

From the above it can be seen that there has been; provided, by means of the system of the present inven-] tion, a means to lift or lower, in the first place, the lower slab of a Venetian blind, and with it all the louvers which are arranged thereabove, and secondly, to also lift and lower the upper slab of said Venetian blind, and with it all the louvers which are arranged therebelow, while at the same time the slanting motion of the louvers is effected in order to direct the light or avoid its passage through the Venetian blind.

The effect achieved is that any vertical section of the area covered by the blind can be uncovered, at the same time covering the remainder of said area. For instance, the upper portion of the window area can be uncovered, such as illustrated in fill lines in FIG. 4, at the same, time leaving the lower portion covered by the louvers 15, y or the area of such window can be left entirely covered 4 by the blind, as illustrated by dotted lines in FIG. 4. Also, the lower area of any intermediate portion between the extreme positions can be uncovered, thus achieving a great versatility in the blind of the present invention as for as the light distribution is concerned.

On the other hand, the lifting and lowering mechanism of the present invention allows a suitable supply of light to a room, said room remaining however, in complete privacy, inasmuch as the lower portion of the window is covered by the blind louvers.

Finally, one of the important advantages of the present invention is that the blind built in accordance with its teachings, can be very easily cleaned and washed, because it will be sufiicient to lower all the way the upper slab so as to clean the louvers as said slab is made to ascend and the said louvers are separated step by step, the starting of the cleaning operation being in the descending direction, which is achieved by operating the blind so that it goes upwardly as it is cleaned.

While in the present specification reference has been had to a specific embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the scope of the present invention is not thereby limited, and that restrictions must only be imposed thereon as those comprised in the scope and spirit of the accompanying claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a Venetian blind including an upper channel adapted to be fixed to a wall surface adjacent a window and enclosing a plurality of cords to effect movements of the blind, an upper bar, a plurality of flexible ladder strips hung from said upper bar, louvers forming the blinds supported by said strips, a lower rail secured to the bottom of said strips, first cord means to lift and lower said lower rail, second cord means for tilting said louvers, and third cord means for lifting and lowering said upper rail, the improvements comprising rail tilting means fixed to one end of said upper rail, a single vertical guide member fixed at its upper end to said upper channel, a slide movably engaged in said guide member, a rotatable device journaled in said slide and turnable by said second cord means, and pivot means securing said rail tilting means to said slide, whereby upon operation of said third cord means to raise or lower said upper rail said rotatable device and upper rail are guided in a vertical plane and subsequent tilting of said louvers is unhampered because said rotating device is prevented from movements out of said plane.

2. Improvements in a blind according to claim 1, wherein said tilting means fixed to the upper rail comprises a bracket having an upstanding arm terminating in a semicircular gear and a pivot at the center of said gear.

3. 'In a Venetian blind including an upper channel adapted to be fixed to a wall surface adjacent a window and enclosing a plurality of cords to effect movements of the blind, an upper bar, a plurality of flexible ladder strips hung from said upper bar, louvers forming the blinds supported by said strips, a lower rail secured to the bottom of said strips, first cord means to lift and lower said lower rail, second cord means for tilting said louvers, and third cord means for lifting and lowering said upper rail, the improvements comprising rail tilting means fixed to one end of said upper rail, a rotatable device operable by said second cord means and engaging said rail tilting means, a slide member including a pair of arms, one of said arms being secured to a track slide and the other arm having a pair of bearings, said rotatable device comprising a pulley and a worm gear fixed on a shaft, said shaft being rotatably mounted in said bearings and said pulley being operable by said second cord means, and a single vertical guide member fixed at its upper end to said upper channel and arranged to slidably engage and guide said track slide, whereby upon operation of said third cord means to raise or lower said upper rail said rotatable device and rail are guided in a vertical plane and subsequent tilting of said louvers is unhampered by possible turning movements out of said plane by said rotating device. 5 4. Improvements in a Venetian blind according to claim 3 wherein said track slide has an omega shape in cross section, said guide member having a slotted track, the side legs of the track slide being inserted into the slot of said guide member with its neck portion lying in the plane 10 of said track.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Dodge Sept. 5, 1916 Stuber et al. Dec. 25, 1951 Di Ienno Oct. 21, 1952 Light et al. Apr. 28, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb. 24, 1954 

1. IN A VENETIAN BLIND INCLUDING AN UPPER CHANNEL ADAPTED TO BE FIXED TO A WALL SURFACE ADJACENT A WINDOW AND ENCLOSING A PLURALITY OF CORDS TO EFFECT MOVEMENTS OF THE BLIND, AN UPPER BAR, A PLURALITY OF FLEXIBLE LADDER STRIPS HUNG FROM SAID UPPER BAR, LOUVERS FORMING THE BLINDS SUPPORTED BY SAID STRIPS, A LOWER RAIL SECURED TO THE BOTTOM OF SAID STRIPS, FIRST CORD MEANS TO LIFT AND LOWER SAID LOWER RAIL, SECOND CORD MEANS FOR TILTING SAID LOUVERS, AND THIRD CORD MEANS FOR LIFTING AND LOWERING SAID UPPER RAIL, THE IMPROVEMENTS COMPRISING RAIL TILTING MEANS FIXED TO ONE END OF SAID UPPER RAIL, A SINGLE 